With thanksgiving for Narelle Jarrett
Posted on November 4, 2022
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We are saddened to hear Archdeacon Narelle Jarrett has been called home, but we rejoice that she is now with Christ.
In 2002, announcing her appointment as Archdeacon for Women’s Ministry, then Archbishop Dr. Peter Jensen said, “Narelle is extremely well qualified for this important position, having ministered faithfully over many years, in particular as Principal of Mary Andrews College since 1985 …”.
She continued as Principal of MAC until 2007 and was Archdeacon for Women until her retirement in 2012. In this latter role, she worked hard to enhance the opportunities for women’s ministry in Sydney, and invited colleagues Jane Tooher, Sarie King, Lesley Ramsay, Jackie Stoneman and Christine Jensen to work with her.
In more recent years, Narelle has served the church at South Coogee as Honorary Assistant Minister, and has been an Archdeacon Emeritus in the diocese since 2012.
Update:
Narelle’s funeral will be at St. Andrew’s Cathedral on Friday 25th November at 11:00am – followed by a light morning tea for those who wish to stay.
Russell Powell has posted this tribute at SydneyAnglicans.net:
“Archdeacon Jarrett radiated godliness and grace,” Archbishop Kanishka Raffel said in his tribute. “With her firm and winsome stand for Biblical truth in all things, she made a significant contribution to the life of our churches and I thank God for her example in life and ministry.”
Her successor as Archdeacon for Women’s Ministry, Archdeacon Kara Hartley also paid tribute, saying “Narelle had a great passion and commitment to advancing the ministries of women in the diocese. A true servant of the gospel, as Principal of Mary Andrews College and Archdeacon for Women’s Ministry she exercised significant leadership in our diocese. I am deeply thankful to God for the impact Narelle had on me and many other women throughout our church.”
C of E Clergy should have the freedom to do what is right in their own eyes, says Bishop of Oxford
Posted on November 4, 2022
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“Church of England clergy should have the freedom to bless and marry same-sex couples, says Bishop of Oxford.
The Bishop of Oxford has published a 52-page essay, Together in Love and Faith, to be released on Friday 4 November, setting out the ways his own views have changed on same-sex relationships over the last decade.
In the light of ten years of reflection and massive changes in the society we serve, many in the Church, including Bishop Steven, now believe it is time to enable local churches and clergy to offer public services of blessing for same-sex relationships and remove the legal barriers to the solemnisation of same-sex marriage in the Church of England. Clergy should also be given the freedom to order their own relationships according to their conscience and to marry a same-sex partner. …
Bishop Steven also reflects that many Christians in the Church of England hold and will continue to hold a traditional view of marriage and this should be honoured and respected by those who are seeking freedom to change”
– A news release from the Diocese of Oxford.
Image from a Diocese of Oxford video.
Armidale Diocese The Link for Oct-Nov 2022 now out
Posted on November 3, 2022
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The latest issue (October – November 2022) of The Link, the magazine of the Diocese of Armidale, has been published on the diocesan website.
Much encouraging news and food for prayer.
Download your copy here. (PDF file.)
Launch 2023
Posted on November 2, 2022
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From Phillip Jensen:
This Sunday is the vital time to invite your Year 12 students to join us at Launch 2023.
The final exam will be over, they are thinking about what’s next and this is much more important than schoolies.
Launch starts with a Launch Day in December.
Launch Day
– Tuesday 13 December at Moore College
– meet other year 12s and leaders going to Launch camp
– a great Bible talk to focus priorities before the long break
– fun, friends and food provided
Launch Camp
– 30 January – 2nd February 2023
– Katoomba, KCC and CMS sites
Launch camp has been an enormous help to so many students as they begin uni days with Christian friends and enfolded in uni Christian ministries.
The aim of Launch is to work out together what it means to live for Jesus in the transition to post-school life – years that are likely to be the most formative years of life.
Details and registration. And download a flyer.
Be Inspired by Mr Eternity!
Posted on November 2, 2022
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From St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Sydney:
“Written in Chalk – the echo of Arthur Stace!
On the evenings of Friday 11th and Saturday 12th November, on our doorsteps, St Andrew’s Square is hosting outdoor screenings of a fascinating documentary on the inspirational impact of the Eternity Story on Sydney’s history and culture! The documentary starts at around sunset, 7:30pm, and runs for about 70 minutes.
It occurs at the 90th anniversary of Arthur Stace first writing ‘Eternity’ on Sydney’s streets (14 November 1932)!
All welcome for a unique experience. View the trailer here.”
Whatever line the film takes on the legacy of Arthur Stace, you can learn about the man and his story –
Making your life count for eternity.
The Eternity waterfall after 40 years – 12 July 2017.
Arthur Stace in his own words.
The Mothers’ Union & the ministry of lay women
Posted on November 1, 2022
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Coming up at Moore College on Wednesday 16th November –
“Women have been key workers in the church since the time of the Apostles, and continue to be so in Australia. Alongside deaconesses and ordained women undertaking professional ministry, lay women have made extensive and invaluable voluntary contributions to church work and evangelism.
From its beginnings in the late 19th century, the Mothers’ Union has provided a framework for supporting Christian women through the parish network, as well as wider ministry in hospitals and the family courts. Other lay women including clergy wives have crafted their own unique spheres of ministry.
This event and accompanying exhibition will highlight the different ways in which lay women have influenced Australian Christianity.”
Jane Tooher is speaking. Details and booking from the College.
Related:
Synod marks ministry of women – SydneyAnglicans.net.
‘Sexuality and holiness’ – a review
Posted on November 1, 2022
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“An excellent new resource on a faithful Christian response to sexuality and gender controversies courageously goes further than many standard evangelical treatments of this challenging topic.
‘Sexuality and holiness: Remaining loving and biblically grounded in a rapidly shifting culture’ is written by Mike Williams, the senior minister of Reigate Baptist church, and it is rooted in a pastoral heart, as well as clear biblical understanding and also unusual spiritual and prophetic insight. …”
– At Anglican Mainstream in the UK, Andrew Symes reviews a new and very topical book.
In his review, Symes writes,
“There is a need for widespread repentance – again, for all sin not just homosexuality – as we recognise the right of God to send tribulation. Will faithful women and men stand in the gap, in intercession, pleading for God’s mercy on the nation and the church, hoping for revival?”
Image: Christian Concern.
A breakdown of the Australian National Church Life survey – with Peter Mayrick and Ruth Powell
Posted on November 1, 2022
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From The Pastor’s Heart:
“Sunday Church attendance across Australia is down, but decline has slowed.
The Australian National Church Life Survey results are out. Worryingly the key newcomer indicator has dropped to 5.7%.
While evangelism is down, engagement in church based service groups is up. Mid week small groups are up.
We take a hard look under the bonnet of the top level results.
Ruth Powell is National Director for the National Church Life Survey.
Peter Mayrick is with Partners in Ministry and the Center for Ministry Development at Sydney’s Moore Theological College and is a board member of the National Church Life Survey.”
Marcus Loane on The English Reformation
Posted on October 30, 2022
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In 1954, Marcus Loane – later Archbishop of Sydney and Sir Marcus – published his landmark “Masters of The English Reformation”.
It was republished in 2005 by Banner of Truth. If you haven’t read it, you ought to. (Availability.)
Here’s the Introduction —
“It was Martin Luther who declared that the doctrine of Justification by Faith Only is the article of a standing or falling church. The recovery of this doctrine was the key to the Reformation in Europe. It was the corollary of the translation of the Bible into the language of everyday life and its circulation in the homes and hands of ordinary people. These two momentous factors were to penetrate the Realm of England during the reign of Henry VIII and will forever be associated in a special sense with the names of Thomas Bilney and William Tyndale. These two, and many others as well, were to die at the stake as a result of their unswerving loyalty to the doctrines of Grace as made known in the Word of God. Nor did they die in vain. The supreme authority of Holy Scripture in all matters of faith and conduct was written into the sixth of the Articles of Religion; and the doctrine of Justification by Faith Only was summed up in unforgettable language in the Eleventh Article. Those two “Articles of the Christian Faith” are the bedrock on whIch the history of the Church of England since the Reformation must stand or fall.
But the pivot of the Reformation in England during the reign of Edward VI was the doctrine of the Lord’s Supper. Ridley’s discovery of the work of Ratramnus led him to reject the doctrine of Transubstantiation and the Sacrifice of the Mass as totally foreign to the teaching of the New Testament. Ridley was able to convince Cranmer that Ratramnus was right; they came to believe that the bread and wine are “the pledges” of God’s redeeming love and that the presence of the Lord Jesus is not to be found in an earthly altar, but in the hearts of those who feed on Him by faith with thanksgiving. Ridley was to expound this doctrine with clarity and dignity in his Treatise on the Lord’s Supper, and Cranmer was to defend it with great learning in his controversy with Gardiner. This was the doctrine enshrined in the Source of the Holy Communion in the Book of Common Prayer in 1552.
When Queen Mary came to the throne, Ridley, Latimer and Cranmer were the outstanding Reformers who were thrown into prison. In all the debates which ensued, in their trial and condemnation for heresy, and in the sentence of death which consigned them to death by fire, the one basic issue was their doctrine of the Lord’s Supper as opposed to the dogmas of the church with regard to Transubstantiation and the Mass. If the Church were right and they were wrong, they were not only condemned to a terrible form of death as heretics but were doomed to a lost eternity. Their real greatness was seen in the fact that they dared to stand by their convictions, formed as a result of intensive study of the Scriptures, and to die at the stake rather than yield to the pressures that were brought to bear on mind and feeling. And the candle they lit is one which by the grace of God will never go out.
What happened more than four hundred years ago is still vitally relevant. The integrity and authority of the Bible have been under constant assault from many quarters and it is no longer the one Book in the homes and hands of all. Many people today think that a good life, a good name, and a good reputation will somehow make them acceptable to God. And the reformed doctrine of the Lord’s Supper has been obscured by an emphasis on the Real Presence which approximates more and more towards medieval teaching and practice. Let Bilney and Tyndale speak again; let Latimer and Ridley and Cranmer be heard afresh. They witnessed “a good confession” for their heavenly Master and sealed it with their lives.
May this book renew the impact of their life and death on another generation “in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God” [1 Cor. 6:11].”
Photo: Ramon Williams. (This is a repost from 2014 in remembrance of the martyrdom of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer on 21 March 1556.)
Ashley Null on Thomas Cranmer
Posted on October 30, 2022
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In 2001 we spoke with Dr Ashley Null about Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, and primary author of the Book of Common Prayer.
“Thomas Cranmer was born in 1489 and baptised into the medieval catholic church. He studied at Cambridge, receiving a Doctorate of Divinity in 1526, and served there as a don.
As a theologian, Cranmer was very much influenced by Erasmus’ emphasis on going back to the original sources for the Christian faith, in particular, of course, the Bible.
In the late 1520s, the authority of Scripture was at the centre of the most pressing English political issue of the day – Henry VIII’s divorce case. …”
– In this interview Dr. Null speaks about why it is important for Anglicans to know about Archbishop Thomas Cranmer.
The Class of Chappo — A night to mark the 10th anniversary of Chappo’s departure to be with Christ
Posted on October 29, 2022
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Tuesday 22 November 2022. 7:30pm
A night to mark the 10th anniversary of Chappo’s departure to be with Christ.
The evening will include:
- Philip Jensen on Evangelism in Tough Times
- Kanishka Raffel on Evangelism and the Local Church
- The launch of The Class of Chappo, edited and contributed to by David Mansfield, along with 27 other contributors.
- The launch of About Love, written and published by David Mansfield on the second half of John’s Gospel and a kind of sequel to About Life which David wrote more than 20 years ago.
- Baden Stace on his recently launched book, Sydney’s One Special Evangelist: John C. Chapman and the Shaping of Anglican Evangelicalism and Australian Religious Life, 1968-2001.
Details and booking from Moore College.
Illustration from a Department of Evangelism videocassette cover, 1986.
Regent College Vancouver gives thanks for Dr Gordon Fee
Posted on October 28, 2022
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“It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Professor Emeritus Dr. Gordon D. Fee. Gordon died October 25, 2022, in New York City.
Gordon was a beloved member of Regent’s faculty, serving as Professor of New Testament from 1986 to 2002. Following his retirement and appointment as Professor Emeritus, Gordon served the College as a favorite sessional instructor until 2009. He was a treasured colleague, teacher, friend, and pastor to many.
Gordon brought a remarkable store of intellect and pastoral concern to New Testament scholarship and to his teaching. He was often quoted as saying, ‘The concern of the scholar is primarily with what the text meant; the concern of the layperson is usually with what it means. The believing scholar insists that we must have both.’…”
– Read the full tribute from Regent College Vancouver.
See also this story from Christianity Today.
Photo with thanks to Regent College.
Reformation Sunday & Slogans
Posted on October 28, 2022
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“Friends in Christ, this Sunday we celebrate Reformation Sunday (including Bach’s cantata 79, written for the occasion, as part of the 10:30am service).
The Reformation began as a series of protests (hence ‘Protestant’) against abuses of the mediaeval Roman Catholic Church, perhaps most notably the sale of indulgences. By the way, in this context, an indulgence is not something to do with giving into luxury, one too many chocolates or wines. Nor is it the collective noun for grandparents, as in an ‘indulgence of grandparents’!
The word had and still has a special meaning for Roman Catholics. That Church taught that God forgives believers the eternal punishment for our sins. But we must also purify ourselves from the ‘temporal punishment’ due to every sin, either in this life, or after death in Purgatory. Purification takes place through prayer, acts of charity, patiently bearing suffering, and so on – or via gaining an indulgence. …”
– At the Cathedral website, Dean of Sydney Sandy Grant explains why Reformation Sunday is worth celebrating.
Anglican Church Comes to Crossroads Over Teaching on Homosexuality — Will It Compromise in the Name of Unity?
Posted on October 27, 2022
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In his The Briefing for Thursday 27 October 2022, Albert Mohler comments on what’s happening in the Anglican world. He responds to an article originating from New Zealand –
“…this takes us back to an article that also ran in the Times just a matter of a few weeks ago, and the headline tells you a lot about how the mainstream media messaged this kind of story.
The headline in the article by Pete McKenzie is this, ‘Anglican Church Delivers A Kick In The Guts To Gay Parishioners.’
… Pete McKenzie in this article, which was date-lined from Wellington in New Zealand basically is unabashed in arguing that it’s the conservative Anglicans who are holding the church back, and they are doing great harm.”
– Listen or read at AlbertMohler.com.
A visit to Grace Presbyterian Assembly in NZ
Posted on October 27, 2022
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“As Moderator during the covid pandemic, I visited a few places in person – notably Hurstville for the ordination of two elders and New Dunesk for its opening as the centre of the work of the Presbyterian Inland Mission. Then there were the Zoom meetings.
But from 3-7 October 2022 I was able to visit the Grace Presbyterian Assembly in Auckland. …”
– We are so thankful for the formation of the Church of Confessing Anglicans Aotearoa New Zealand (CCAANZ) in response to the liberal trajectory of the Anglican Church in NZ.
Peter Barnes, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Australia briefly reports on another response to liberal theology in NZ – this one by faithful Presbyterians.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…